Brisk first-day sale of train cards noted

AF Payments Inc. reports that as much as 3,054 contactless cards were sold to train commuters on the first day, 85 percent of which were Stored Value Cards (SVCs) or beep™ cards.

“We are pleased to see how our preparations have led to a relatively smooth transition to the first public trial. This event is crucial as it lets our technical team assess equipment performance for real public usage and traffic scenario,” Peter Maher, chief executive officer of AF Payments said on Wednesday.

He added, “We were also able to observe user experience. Information like these will help us see what other improvements need to be implemented.”

Meanwhile, of the 486 Single Journey Tickets (SJTs) sold, 103 cards or 21 percent were bought from the vending machines.

The average load for the stored value cards was at P110, not counting the P20 one-time card fee.

AF Payments Inc., in partnership with the Light Rail Transit Authority, saw encouraging results on the first day of the limited public trial of the Unified Automated Fare Collections System (UAFCS) for the country’s light rail transit system held this week.

The trial of the contactless beep™ card and the new Single Journey Tickets piloted at Legarda Station of the Light Rail Transit 2 early this week.

Positive outcome of the public trial at the Legarda station has prompted AF Payments Inc. to implement a similar trial at the Betty Go Belmonte station within the week.

At the moment, SVCs and SJTs can only be purchased at the Legarda station.

The cards, however, will be accepted at any of the new exit gates in LRT 2.

The beep™ cards can be reloaded in any LRT 2 station over-the-counter via the teller’s booth.

They sell for P20 apiece and can be loaded and reloaded with a minimum of P12 to a maximum of P10,000 and are valid for 4 years.

The new UAFCS will run simultaneously with the old system, which uses the magnetic striped tickets until rollout is completed in all LRT 2 stations.

The LRT 2 is the first Philippine commuter railroad to implement the smart card technology for its ticketing system.

With the beep™ card, commuters will be able to just “tap and go” at the LRT 2 stations.